


A Sprig of Silver

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-31
Updated: 2005-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-19 15:58:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12413331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: With silver mistletoe in September, tall redheaded boys, and one unexpected realization, Ginny Weasley's prone to an unusual trip to Hogwarts on September 1st. *Euerka! Scrivenshaft challenge winner*





	A Sprig of Silver

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

A Sprig of Silver

If you met Ginny Weasley, the first thing you’d notice about her would probably be her vibrant Weasley hair. The second would be her witty remarks, which liberally peppered her conversations. And the third would be her smile, which was a thing of beauty in itself, a single rose petal in the wintertime. (The fourth would probably be her aptitude at Bat-Bogey hexes, but that’s another story, saved for a different time.)

If you met Ginny Weasley, you would also find that she was a rather popular girl. One of those girls who always seems to have somebody to walk with in the corridors, somebody to do homework with and usually a whole group of girls to chatter with in the common room. 

 

None of this explained by Ginny was about to ask to sit in, of all people, Luna Lovegood’s compartment. It wasn’t that Luna was a rude, annoying, or arrogant person–far from it. Luna was kind (although a bit spacey). She seemed to be lost in a constant cloud-filled daydream, and was always a cheerful kind of girl. It was just that, under the normal circumstances, this year Ginny would rather not have shared a compartment with someone who was reading their magazine upside down.

 

Ginny heaved an inward sigh. All of the other compartments were full. And besides, even if they weren’t, she didn’t feel she could face a compartment full of laughing sixth-years with nothing on their minds except for the current relationships and flirtations going on at the moment. 

 

Figuring she had nothing much to lose, anyway, she slid the compartment door open.

 

As she had figured, Luna was sitting quite alone, happily humming a song to herself. Ginny was sure she’d heard it somewhere–perhaps from her Dad’s Muggle radio? She was also reading another issue of The Quibbler with utmost interest. 

 

The blonde seemed quite unaware that somebody had intruded on her peace. Ginny, sighing again (she seemed to be doing an awful lot of that lately), spoke. “Hey, Luna. Can I sit here?”�

 

Luna looked up from her magazine and smiled cheerily at the rather tired-looking redhead. “Oh, sure. Hi, Ginny! I was just reading an article about Blast-Ended Skrewts…apparently there’s a new breed that changes color every time you feed them…”� 

 

Ginny winced inwardly. Her last encounter with that very species had not been too much fun.

 

“Oh…”� Ginny managed weakly, sinking wearily into a seat. All she wanted to do was sit in silence, and possibly watch the gloomy countryside pass by. And maybe brood a little, for the last time, about stupid, stupid Harry Potter.

 

“So, how was your summer?”� Ginny inquired, more out of politeness than out of the actual desire to know the answer. Luna shifted her head from her magazine to look at Ginny. It actually looked as if she’d twined some silver-colored mistletoe within the pale moonlight-like strands for no apparent reason.

 

“It was good, you know…”� she said vaguely. “Daddy and I went to Hungary to check on the progress of a few brewing news stories. I rode a flying motorcycle,”� Luna said, her eyes shining like two stars. “It was quite amazing. Daddy went on too, when I persuaded him.”� Her blue eyes twinkled, and Ginny suddenly had the momentary urge to laugh–but not to make fun of Luna, really. It was just one of those unexplained urges.

 

She hadn’t laughed in a while.

 

“Sounds interesting,”� Ginny said, still smiling.

 

“Yes, it was…how was your summer, then?”� asked Luna, eyes wide and curious. 

 

“Oh…fine, I suppose,”� Ginny replied.

 

“You don’t sound too enthusiastic, do you?”� Luna said in her same drifting voice, putting her magazine down now. “Were you upset about breaking up with Harry?”� she asked vaguely.

 

“No, I wasn’t.”� Ginny said mechanically. It was the answer she’d given all summer, never meaning it once. 

“You don’t sound so sure.”� 

“Well, I am.”� 

 

There was a pause of a few minutes. Luna picked up her copy of The Quibbler again. The train began to move.

 

“D’you know, I’m waiting for somebody to meet me here.”� Luna said, completely out of nowhere. 

Ginny nodded absently. She knew it was mean, but she rather suspected some sort of imaginary friend.

 

“Have you talked to anybody since you’ve gotten back?”� Ginny asked.

 

“Well, yes…two seventh-year boys who apparently thought they were something special. They made it clear that they didn’t appreciate my choice of hair piece.”� Luna said, moving her head so that the silver mistletoe glinted. 

Ginny felt an indescribable pang in the pit of her stomach. It was the feeling you get when you see a stranger picking their nose–the hot, prickly feeling of embarrassment and sadness for another. 

 

“Luna, you don’t have to let them treat you like that, you know,”� Ginny said. 

 

“I know,”� Luna said. “The opinions of others never have mattered much to me. Mother always said that was a good thing.”� 

 

“Luna, of course it’s good that you don’t care, but care a little bit, why don’t you? Fix up your hair. Stop wearing radishes in your ears. Read something other than The Quibbler for a change–“ 

 

“But I don’t care, Ginny. If they don’t like me, it doesn’t matter,”� Luna said unconcernedly, twirling a new, fresh sprig of silver mistletoe in an undecorated lock of hair.

“You must care if people like you, Luna! What about friends?”� Ginny asked, getting all the more agitated by the second. Luna was just so…on her own cloud, oblivious to the world around her. Ginny kind of envied that, at times. The instant she’d said it, she felt bad. 

 

“I have friends,”� Luna said serenely, patting the intertwined mistletoe fondly. “People will accept me for who I am.”�

“But Luna, come on, at least make an effort. Take out the mistletoe, it’s four months until Christmas–“ 

 

“But I like mistletoe.”� Luna said, retrieving another sprig of it out of her bag and beginning to weave it through her blonde hair once more. “It’s nice.”� “Luna, people don’t wear mistletoe in their hair! Especially if it’s September!”� Ginny said, getting more frustrated with each passing moment.. Luna simply didn’t seem to care. 

 

“Well, I do.”� Luna pointed out. 

“Yes, but do you see anybody else wearing it in their hair on the first day to school? Do you see anyone wea–“

But she was cut off by the loud noise as the compartment door slid open...

 

Ron Weasley, red hair, big feet, grin and all, walked straight into the compartment, completely ignoring his sister, and towards Luna.

 

Ginny was pretty sure her jaw dropped. Her mind was boggled, and she was stunned beyond belief. She seemed incapable of speech or movement. Things seemed to be happening in slow motion. This was who Luna had been waiting for? And did this mean that–

Ginny’s question was answered as Ron grinned down at Luna, not even noticing Ginny, and patted Luna’s mistletoe-adorned hair. Ginny drank in the scene hungrily and felt as if she wasn’t even there, just part of the wallpaper. She felt a powerful, indefinable ache that gnawed away at her stomach, and wide-eyed, tried to ignore the strange pang, as her eyes were glued to the scene unfolding before her. 

Ron looked as if he’d unwrapped a package to find the newest Firebolt before him. 

 

“Hi,”� Ron said, still smiling broadly, looking rather like an idiot. “I like your hair.”�

“Thank you.”� Luna replied, looking possibly as dreamy as Ginny had ever seen her, which was saying quite a lot. She reached up to tenderly touch Ron’s cheek. “You’ve grown.”� Ron nodded, still grinning down at her. Luna caught his hand in hers, and briefly turned back to Ginny as she and Ron reached the compartment door. “This was who I was waiting for,”� Luna said happily. “I’ll see you in a bit, Ginny!”� And with that, she led a beaming Ron out the door. Ginny nodded, feeling strangely numb, even though Luna was already halfway out the compartment, dragging Ron with her, looking as if Christmas had come early. 

 

Maybe it had, for Luna. Maybe her life was a constant Christmas. Maybe that’s why she wore silver mistletoe in September and radishes in her ears, hummed Muggle songs and held hands with a familiar red-headed boy, dreamed and didn’t care what others thought. Maybe Ginny could learn something from Luna. Maybe Luna had found something that Ginny hadn’t. 

 

Maybe Luna was happy, and happiness was all it took.


End file.
